Servo Replacement

I became lucidly aware of myself at some kind of console. It was a mechanical interface, with big switches and gearshifts. Anxiously I surveyed the readout out loud. There was a big "EXECUTE" button which I pressed, and it didn't do anything...and I realized that I must have to push some other buttons first.

Hastily I started flipping things kind of at random, and I found one setting for species. It was set to rat, but I flipped it through various modes. At one point it stopped and I moved on, but then I paused to look at it and realized I'd set it to "spider". Since I didn't know what I was doing I might as well not pick something creepy and crawly, so I changed it to "human" and pushed "EXECUTE".

There was a big alarm, and at this point I turned around to see the greater context of where I was. It was like some kind of mission control center, and there were monitoring systems of remote locations. A woman in front was in charge, and barking orders.

woman: "Quickly. Turn off the alarm, it will be okay. We're just going to have to catch it at the proper checkpoint."

I was somewhat frozen in place, but she picked me up and set me on the ground in front of her--it seemed like she had robotic strength augmentation.

woman: "That servo unit is going to cost a lot to replace..."

Note
servo is a contraction for servomechanism--something that uses feedback to control or balance a motor or other system.

There was a feeling of genuine fear, which I rarely have. Somehow I thought she was going to harm me in a way that was actually going to actually harm me in waking life. Rather than stay and find out, I shook myself awake.

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